Malls that were once active but have since been abandoned ("dead malls") are fascinating relics of greed, consumerism, and our increasingly antiquated analog way of life that required actual motion through space to get the material possessions we don't need, per se, but covet. They're also creepy and kind of sad, if you think about the unrealized dreams of the people to tried to sell you that shit you didn't need. Dead malls are sweeping the nation in that agonizingly slow manner that dead things sweep.

White Flint Mall in North Bethesda, Maryland, is one such mall. Opened in 1977, it is now wheezing its final Cinnabon-scented gasps — the property's owners announced in 2012 that the once-thriving consumer space will be converted into a town center. "A final closing date has not been announced. Until then you are free to head up Rockville Pike, pull into any parking spot you like and wander around. We did," wrote The Washington Post in January, in a picture-heavy piece that looks simultaneously post-apocalyptic and pre-zombie attack (the calm before the storm in Dawn of the Dead).